Gwen Harwood Essay Essay

Opportunities for an individual to develop understanding of themselves stem from the experiences attained on their journey through alive. The elements which contribute to liveness are explored throughout Gwen Harwoods poems, At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life, where the recollection of various points are presented as influences on the individuals perception of the continuity of animation. Both poems examine the connections among people and terminal in relation to eccentricl connections with the paradigms father or catch.By encompassing aspects of human temperament and demeanors journey, Harwood addresses memories and human kinds which contribute to ones awareness of manner. Memories and meandering thoughts, related to to tropel experiences, are explored throughout At Mornington where the persona shifts surrounded by the recent and present and dreams and reality. This is similar to suffer and Child where Barn Owl is fix in past test and evenfall is set in the present, typic of appreciation and understanding of the complexities of life which the child learns.At Mornington opens with an evocation of an event from the personas childhood which establishes the temporary and ever changing nature of human life. Reflected through the shifts surrounded by past and present tense, the persona is attempting to expend past experiences in order to appreciate the present and accept the future. The poem provides a reflective and personal point of view accompanied by the recurring motif of water which symbolises the personas transition from childhood to the acceptance of the inevitability of death.In the third stanza, the persona refers to a more recent past where she had seen pumpkins growing on a trellis in her friends garden. The action of the pumpkins is described as a metaphor of myself which allows the persona to reflect on the meaning and quality of her own life and existence. The metaphor between the pumpkin vine and the persona sugges ts that like the pumpkin, human life also ripens and festers before sexual climax to a closure and returning to the earth. support by the phrase plunderdlelight for eyesight, the reader is made aware of the transitoriness of life that the persona has grown to accept and understand.In Father and Child, as the persona moves on from childhood, her father becomes elderly and is entertained by innocent things in nature, birds, flowers, shivery-grass. These symbols of nature remind the persona of the inconsistency of life and the matter of course of death, sunset exalts its known symbols of transience, where sunset represents time. Both poems are indicative of the impermanency of life and that the persona has managed to mature and grow beyond the initial fearlessness of childhood moving onto a sophisticated understanding of death.The connection between life and death is expressed in a different focusing through Mother Who Gave Me Life, a poem of mourning for the dead. The poem can be seen as a personal farewell to the personas fret where the dominant orbits of the poem show evolution and the passing of time. Father and Child also demonstrates the passing of time as the persona moves from the whiteness of childhood to the sadness of her fathers advancing age and inevitable passing.In Mother Who Gave Me Life, the reference to Halleys Comet, which appears only once every(prenominal) seventy-six years, tells the reader that the fret was unable to see it once more before surrendering to death. The direct speech of the Sister is reported without the use of credit entry marks as in, When she died she was folding a little towel. This provides readers with the knowledge that the mother addressed in the poem is dead. Without quotation marks, the flow of the poem is keep and is therefore more easily absorbed into the texture of the poem.The parallel take care of the fabric of marvels being reduced to the little towel raises the notion that whilst death may ha ve brought a physical end to the personas mothers life she remains a marvel of insertion as the personas memories of her live on. The poem ends with the fine linen paper recalling the memories of a typical childhood scene where the personas mother is calling for her to have dinner as darkness falls on my fathers house. This biblical reference to the House of the Lord, combined with the coming of darkness, reminds the reader of the inevitable ending of life and the respective movement into heaven.As the second section of Father and Child draws to a close, it is evident that the persona has grown to understand that she has limited time left with her father. The significance of Nightfall as the title of the second section, when considering the daybreak setting of Barn Owl, reinforces this. sunrise symbolises youth whilst nightfall, in comparison, suggests an ending which implies death, a concept that the adult persona is beginning to acknowledge it as part of life.A particular show case in life can conjure different memories of the past as in At Mornington where the persona is drawn into recollections of childhood experiences with her father go standing by the graveside of her friends parents. A positive image of the father and child relationship is conveyed throughout the poem as in, ready in my fathers arms. This image conveys safety, comfort and protection which assists the persona in moving on and accepting the cycle of life.It is the security which stems from this relationship that enables the persona to mature from the perceptions and thoughts maintained as a child. Insight into the relationship between the persona, as both child and adult, with her father is also present in Father and Child. The dominance of the father is suggested through his imperative tone, can what you have begun. Despite the power-play in their relationship, there is still a reason of closeness, I leaned my head upon my fathers arms. This connection has enabled the persona to mature and grow through experiences.This personal relationship is also evident in Mother Who Gave Me Life where the imagery of light shows the persona realises the importance of her mother as she walks in the light of the living. This suggests that the persona is able to walk amongst the living due to her mother. The affirming experiences and enlightenment provided by this relationship enables the persona to see the vitalizing role of women as part of the cycle of life. All the poems comment on an individuals relationship with their mother or father which is infixed in maturing and evolving as an individual.The relationships conveyed enable the persona to gain an understanding of life whilst considering its value and accepting its cycle. Ultimately, the exploration of memory and relationships with the persona and their father or mother enables an individual to comprehend human nature and the links between life and death. Throughout the poems At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life, Harwood shows the reader, through memories and comparisons, different aspects of life which contribute to what it means to be human.